The Current Status of Sex Education in U.S. Colleges and Universities: A School Website Content Review

Abstract

This study used a website content analysis to examine the prevalence of sex education in higher education institutions throughout the US. A total of 413 postsecondary institutions varying in type (public, private) and size (small, medium, large) were chosen via stratified random sampling. Each of the 413 school websites was reviewed to determine whether sexual health programs, sexual violence prevention programs, and basic sexual health information and resources were provided to their school community. Results show that the majority of institutions reviewed, regardless of the type and size, provided sexual assault prevention programs, whereas a smaller proportion of institutions (mostly public and large) provided sexual health programs. Findings confirm the importance and urgency of allocating more resources to comprehensive sex education in US higher education.

Keywords:

• Postsecondary institutions
• sex education
• sexual health
• sexual violence

Notes

1 This federal law was named after Jeanne Clery, a student who was raped and murdered on the campus of Lehigh University, PA in 1986.

2 It is worth noting that escalation of drinking is not only observed among college students but has been shown to correspond to the transition from adolescence to young adulthood in non-college bound youth as well. See, for example, Jackson et al. (2001) and Schulenberg and Maggs (2002) for studies of the general population.

3 NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the US and other nations. The organization is housed within the US Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences.

4 This online training used to be operated by EVERFI, and many institutions referred to it as the “EVERFI” program. Effective summer 2021, Vector Solutions assumed ownership of EVERFI’s campus prevention network and their higher education business and currently manages many online training courses for college students including SAPU.